How to Use a Wacom Tablet to Dodge and Burn in Photoshop

A Wacom tablet is by far one of the most useful tools any photographer can have, and dodging and burning is one of the most powerful editing techniques for almost every genre. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about using a Wacom tablet to dodge and burn using Photoshop.

Coming to you from Aaron Nace with Phlearn, this great video details the process of using a Wacom tablet to dodge and burn in Photoshop. Though it's an incredibly simple technique at its core (simply selective lightening and darkening), dodging and burning is still the preferred technique of many top-end retouchers and photographers, because it produces powerful, natural results. The better you get at, the more you can learn to add depth and shape to your photos to draw the viewer's eye to wherever you would like it to go by selective emphasizing and deemphasizing different areas. A Wacom tablet is an especially useful tool for this, particularly since it's pressure sensitive, allowing you to more precisely apply the effect in a much more natural way than using a standard mouse. Check out the video above to see how it is all done. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

Aaron is awesome.

Since getting an iPad Pro with the pencil my Wacom tablet has been sitting ignored in the corner. Just waiting for the iOS apps to catch up to the desktop versions,